An Ohio woman settled a lawsuit with a software company after she claimed the company grabbed a sexually explicit photo of her from her computer.
Here's what happened: Susan Clements-Jeffrey, a teacher, age 52, bought a laptop from a student for $60.
Not surprising that computer had been stolen, and sold to another student for $40, who quickly flipped it to his naive teacher for a 50% profit.
Mrs. Clements-Jeffrey used the computer and the webcam to communicate with her out of state boyfriend.
This is where Absolute Software comes in.
In an attempt to recover the stolen property, the company grabbed a webcam image of Clements-Jeffrey. They used a webcam image rather than some other saved photo, because that's the only way to determine who is actually using the computer.
They also used the tracking software to locate the computer. They turned over the location and the explicit photo to local police, who arrested Clements-Jeffrey.
She sued, claiming her privacy and been violated and she had no idea the computer was stolen. A judge agreed and ruled in her favor (instead of taking it further, the parties settled).
The judge ruled, even though the company was tracking stolen property, a legitimate purpose, it crossed a line when it obtained and disseminated (to police) a sexually explicit image of Clements-Jeffrey.
I agree. And I would love to side with her but for one big thing. She didn't know the computer was stolen? There's no way that can be true. She bought a laptop from a student for $60 and didn't think it had been stolen. Not possible.
Not saying she deserved to have her naked photos exposed, but when you traffic in stolen goods I believe you lose some of your rights. And I think she should have had this case dismissed.
Was she hot?
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